Writer: Stephen Seitz
Narrator/Holmes & Watson: Kevin Theis
Summary: An accident with H.G. Wells' time machine strands American Cynthia Kenyon in London, 1882. Utterly alone, the prisoner of Professor James Moriarty, there is but one name from the period Cynthia knows: Sherlock Holmes. What she could not know is how powerful an attraction she would feel for Holmes' partner, the handsome Dr. John Watson. Cynthia faces a number of dangerous choices on this unique journey: allow the 19th century's great criminal mastermind to plunder the centuries? Give up her family, friends, and career for the love of one man from the past? Should she correct the history she has changed, and how? No matter what Cynthia chooses, some things are never meant to be.
Review: Sci-Fi and Sherlock Holmes should have been up my street, but I found myself disappointed by this. The narrative was confusing, and a large proportion of the action is simply related in a final chapter, rather than being directly experienced by our heroine. Also, one minute travelling in time was a complex thing, and then it just happens when someone is asleep with only the most limited of explanation, enabling the author to get out of a corner that he has painted his heroine into (not once but twice). I could also have done without an adjective describing Watson's lovemaking ('vigourous', if you're interested). In his afterword, Seitz talks about wanting to focus on Watson rather than Holmes, but doesn't add anything to Watson's character that we haven't seen in the canon. His habit of referring to his antagonist repeatedly as 'the reptillian Professor Moriarty' also began to grate. If you want an adventure featuring HG Wells' time machine, you'd be better spending your time watching the excellent film 'Time After Time'.
Rating: 
(3/5)
Link to audio: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Never-Meant-to-Be-Audiobook/B08XWS6PR2
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